A reversible blind medical image watermarking scheme for patient identification, improved telediagnosis and tamper detection with a facial image watermark

The evolution of telemedicine has lead to the explosive increase in the exchange of medical images among remotely placed medical practitioners. As the medical images serve as valuable evidences for insurance claims and legal trials as well, it is required to ensure that these images are unaltered and they should be identified to be of that of an individual unambiguously. A recent research has shown that appending the patient´s photograph with the medical image improves telediagnosis rather than just sending the medical image to a remote radiologist. To the contrary, major health policies have stipulated stringent rules regarding the disclosure of identity of the patients. This paper presents a reversible blind watermarking scheme to watermark a medical image with the patient´s photograph in an invisible manner such that it is available to the respective physician only on extraction with a key.